ApparitionPJ Harvey's newest album, White Chalk, is a ghost story, filled with reverse murder ballads sung by the corpse. The obvious hook is that the record features no guitar parts - a gesture that might seem to be a step back from confrontation, were it anybody besides Harvey making it. But the electric guitar is an essential facet of her persona, and its absence here drives to the fore a perverse primness antithetical to Harvey's previous incarnation as the "50 ft Queenie", all puffed lips mashed against a pane of glass, or on a bad night, concrete. The bruises may not have healed, but she's now concealing them beneath a high collar and long sleeves; a doll under glass.
